Political speech is a popular subject these past few days, and seeing as that is what we do here, it should be. Any slight change about what is defined as paid speech could make what we do very difficult to define financially, and more cumbersome to execute. Take for example the value of web space or the cost of remote equipment used to broadcast “speech.” If we are not cautious, these and many other things might become “expenses” for “Speech hobbyists,” like those at GraniteGrok, that would require us to register and file with the Secretary of State. And failing to do so might invite action from the Attorney General.
So while the goal of speech related legislation may be to identify fly-by-night political groups who gang rape your constituents mail-boxes with lies and hate, the potential collateral damage is much too great. People forget that lies and hate are protected by the first amendment. We should have other laws for dealing with that (and not the lefts hate speech laws, a topic for a different post). Any speech related legislation should not define, value, or in any way complicate the act of speech itself; when you meddle with political speech you always risk placing a gag on it and at the very least risk handing someone else the gag to be applied later.
